Saturday, August 29, 2009

Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited to the 2009 Art Unleashed Auction benefitting the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City. I donated 'Chillaxin' so it was fun to see that being bid on and hearing comments about it. There was a huge crowd there, opening their wallets to help out all the animals! The food was delicious, the MC did a great job, all in all a really fun event...kudos to all that had a hand in making all of this possible! Can't wait until next year!

Friday, August 28, 2009

For last week's Friday Finds, I had shopped around for glass on the recommendation of my sister who is crazy for handmade glass items! Well, I decided to feature another glass artist last week, since there were so many incredible items to choose from! This week, I'm looking at West Coast Glass, a family-run glass-blowing business located on Vancouver Island up in Canada. I just love the look of their pieces! The colors, the frosted look, the shapes of them. I can tell a lot of care and skill go into making these! I especially love this piece. The green, amber, and purple work so well together, and I even like the little 'dimples' it has! Please check out their shop, for more of these one-of-a-kind handblown glass vases! Happy Friday!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Art Unleashed, benefitting the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City is THIS FRIDAY, August 28th at Hale Arena. If you're in the Kansas City area, come take a look at all of the great animal artwork, and help out shelter animals in the process! You can see my piece, "Chillaxin'" up for auction! For more information, please check out the HSGKC's Art Unleashed website! All of the animals thank you!

Good morning! Today's treasury features my "What Are You Looking At" English Bulldog portrait. This very pretty treasury has been put together by lisaburkin and she has titled it "Life is Good, So Says the Bulldog"! How cute is that? Dexter (the bulldog) thinks it's fabulous! Please check out Lisa's Island Girl Designs to find out a little more about her and her work!

Friday, August 21, 2009

I am back in Iowa, visiting family, and when it came time to feature someone on Friday Finds, I decided to let someone else help out! I asked my sister if she were to go on to Etsy right now, what would she browse for? Glass! Right away that was her answer. She loves handmade glass art and objects, so I did a little browsing on my own, in honor of her! I'm very excited by what I found! These fused glass tiles are by Michelle Prosek. They would look great in all kinds of decor, on a wall or in a window! She designs and hand makes all of her tiles - each one is truly one-of-a-kind! Please check out her shop for these tiles, and a few other goodies!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Friday, August 14, 2009

Zack Arias has inspired once again. You may recall "Transform", a video post he made about six months ago. This was my very first 'encounter' with Zack. Since then, I have been an avid follower of his, admiring not only his work, but more importantly, admiring his insight, his attitude, his work ethic...he really is an inspiration and someone that I look up to from afar. Today, he has done it again with a new video post called 'Dope, Soap, & Hope'. It all began with a blog comment he had received yesterday from a photographer standing on a dock, as Zack refers to it, wondering what is next for him. Zack spent all day posting comments from this blog post, and I must say, I was glued to it. He then received a visitor, a door-to-door salesman, peddling soap in the midst of all of this. Here is what came out of this salesman's pitch...

This has come at a perfect time for me as I, like so many of the authors of those comments, find myself on a dock wondering what's next for me. Should I stay on the dock? If I do, would that keep me happy and for how long? Should I set sail on a boat? Should it be my own boat? What will happen on this boat? Will I get seasick? Am I even on the correct body of water??? A lot to think about, and hearing from Zack's readers makes things a little less scary, a little more exciting.

I have had LOTS of babies to buy gifts for recently, just look at these adorable hats I found during my searches! These are handmade by Arfeiniel, and she will custom make them to fit your child! Too cute! Stop by her shop, she has a lot of cute clothing and accessories for boys, girls, even women!

Ok, this is one of my favorites to date. You all know how obsessed I am with my little smushed-faced dogs, LaurelMae has made an entire treasury dedicated to those squishy-faced lovables, and has included my 'Chillaxin'! Please Enjoy!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

I am originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and as you may remember, while there visiting my family for the holidays I took a trip down to the Time Check area to look at the damage 6 months after the flood of 2008. Well, I was back again last week, and made another trip to the area to see what progress has been made 12 months later.

Nice to Meet You!

My name is Erin Garrison Benesh, I live in the Kansas City area with my wonderful husband of over 5 years, and our 5 “kids” – 3 English Bulldogs (Chloe, Dexter and Samson), and 2 cats (Sadie and Luna). You'll probably see them make several appearances on this blog! I am a licensed architect, that's my 'day job' which I do love! But I am extremely passionate about photography, and it is how I like to spend my 'free time'. Besides my love for architecture, photography, and graphic design, I enjoy traveling, food & wine, good conversation with great friends, going to movies, and spending time with my hubby and fantastic family!